


words for u

by sheskyripa



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Artist Andrew Minyard, Fluff, M/M, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Writer Neil Josten
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26425078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheskyripa/pseuds/sheskyripa
Summary: Neil has to write a text about something that he loves, but he doesn't know what he should write about.Until he knows.
Relationships: Betsy Dobson & Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Jean Moreau, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Stuart Hatford & Neil Josten
Comments: 17
Kudos: 224





	words for u

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys, what's up? 
> 
> so, this work is a gift for a special person and I hope you like it. xoxo.
> 
> again, my english is not the best, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes.

Neil had a creative block. 

He  _ hated  _ when he had a creative block because that was when his anxiety got stronger and he became irritable, nervous, and restless, the latter being evidenced by the way he tapped the tip of his pencil against his desk and his leg swung up and down repeatedly. 

Irritated, Neil dropped his pencil and pushed the chair away from the desk, standing and walking across the room, hand on chin and eyebrows drew together in concentration.  _ Something I love,  _ he thought.  _ I have to write about something I love, but what do I love?  _

He certainly liked to play Exy, but love? No, he didn't think so. He liked swimming, running, movie nights with Kevin, Jean, and Andrew in the living room of his house. He liked the pizza that Andrew's mother, Betsy, made too, but he didn't think he loved any of those things. He liked to travel, to learn a new language, to beat Kevin at Exy, but he did not love it. 

He sighed, angrier than before as he threw himself on his bed. How could he write about something he loved if he didn't know what he loved? Damn the English teacher and his stupid ideas. 

His curses on the man were interrupted when his bedroom door was opened and his uncle's slightly bald and slightly gray head appeared through the doorway. 

"Neil, do you want pizza or barbecue for dinner?"

Neil wanted the elimination of his professor's existence, but he doubted Stuart would give him that. 

"Pizza," he replied, without looking at the man. 

"The usual?"

Neil propped himself up on his elbows and looked at Stuart. 

"Could it be half a fruit and half a chocolate?"

Stuart was not surprised. 

"When Andrew arrives, tell him he has lemon pie in the fridge too," Stuart said with a little smile and closed the door before the pillow Neil threw at him hit him. 

It was Wednesday, which meant that Mrs. Dobson had to work late into the morning at the clinic where she worked as a psychological escort for the inmates and her husband was on duty at the police station where he worked, so Andrew escaped through the window and came to sleep at Neil's house. He had been doing this since the three weeks after they became friends, when Andrew was adopted by Betsy Dobson and her husband, Phill. They were eight years old at the time and Neil only came to find out why he came to sleep at Neil's house only when they were thirteen, four years earlier. It turns out that Andrew did not like being alone in a house, because the last time he stayed, his foster brother at the time did bad things to him. Neil felt euphoric every time he thought of Andrew's trust in him. 

Thinking about Andrew made his irritation subside and he reached for his phone to text him, he didn't know what, he just wanted to send something, but there was already an unread message from Andrew. 

**_Drew:_ ** _ I’ll arrive earlier today _

**_Drew:_ ** _ Mom is going to take me _

_ ok   
_ _ did something happen?  _

Neil always knew there was something wrong with Andrew, even by message. 

**_Drew:_ ** _ When I arrive I’ll tell you _

_ ok  
_ _ there's a lemon pie _ _   
_ _ waiting for you  _

**_Drew:_ ** _ it better have whipped cream  _

_ you offend me  _ _   
_ _ have ice cream too _

**_Drew:_ ** _ :)  _

When the pizza arrived, Neil went down to the first floor and sat on the couch next to Stuart and watched a random question and answer program while eating. Neil had put Andrew’s half in the fridge next to the pie before he started eating. He was on the last slice of his half when the front door opened and seconds later, Andrew appeared. 

Stuart looked up at him. "Do I want to know how you got in here if the door was closed?"

Andrew took off his coat and hung it on the hanger, showing off his black T-shirt from the Game of Thrones’ Lannister’s house, which Neil had given him on his last birthday. 

"No," he said and tossed it on the couch next to Neil. Stuart snorted, but let it go and turned his attention to the program. 

Neil finished his slice. "There's chocolate pizza for you in the fridge."

Andrew looked at Neil and raised an eyebrow. 

"You feed me better than my mom."

"Did she try to get you to eat lettuce again?"

Andrew's resigned face was sufficient response and Neil laughed, receiving a push from Andrew's shoulder in his in response. 

"What can I do, I am a helpful friend."

Andrew rolled his eyes, but there was a little smile on his lips when he got up from the couch and headed for the kitchen, returning moments later with the chocolate pizza. He sat cross-legged on the couch and propped the pizza box on his legs and started eating. 

When the program ended, Stuart got up. "Are you going to watch something on television or can I hang up?"

"We are going to watch the last season of GOT," said Andrew with his mouth full of chocolate and pizza dough.

"Again?" asked Stuart. 

"GOT never hurts," replied Neil. Stuart shook his head and bent down to pick up the dishes they had soiled and carried them to the kitchen. "The last season or marathon since the first?" 

Andrew contemplated. 

"Marathon."

Neil made a happy sound and got up to put the episodes he had downloaded onto the USB stick on the flat-screen TV that Stuart had bought a few weeks earlier. Before playing, Neil went to get the lemon pie and whipped cream. 

"Don't eat the whole pie!" shouted Stuart when he saw that Neil had taken the pie. 

"I don't promise anything," Neil shouted back and Andrew snorted. They knew it would be him and not Neil who would end the pie. 

They watched the entire first episode before Neil turned to look at Andrew.

"What happened?" 

Andrew looked down his lap. 

"Mom found my biological relatives." 

"Oh," Neil blinked "Are we happy with this?" 

“I have a twin brother. And apparently my walking incubator decided to keep one and get rid of the other ”

They were silent, the sounds of episode two being the only thing filling the room. 

"That cow," Neil exclaimed and Andrew looked at him with raised eyebrows before bursting out laughing. 

"Yeah," he said when he stopped laughing. "They live in Columbia, South Carolina, and Mom is taking me there over the weekend." 

Andrew bit his lip and met Neil's gaze. 

"I don't want to go alone." 

"Your mother will be with you.”

"You know what I mean.”

They stared at each other for a while and that euphoria that Neil felt whenever he saw the confidence Andrew had in him made him want to scream. 

"I'm going to ask Stuart." 

Andrew nodded and they went back to watching the episode. 

That moment made Neil realize something. And later that night, Neil only managed to sleep after writing. 

*

"You look like a zombie," said Jean Moreau when Neil met him in front of the Baltimore High School gate. 

"Andrew would say that I look like a White Walker" 

Jean snorted. 

“Please tell me that you both didn't spend the night watching Game of Thrones.  _ Again." _

"We didn't stay," Neil said, sitting at the bottom of the stairs. "He stayed. I went to finish the text of the English class. ” 

Jean placed his backpack next to Neil's body but remained standing. 

“The text about something we love? Professor Winfrey also asked us to make one. ”

“Professor Charles said that we could do the job according to our tastes. For example, I, being good at creating texts, wrote one. Andrew did a drawing. ” 

Jean blew out a laugh. 

"My dream is to be in the same English class as you and to be able to deliver a sculpture." 

Neil laughed. 

Jean Moreau had a fleur de Lis tattoo on his left cheek and that tattoo stood out in the sun that made that morning like a beacon, drawing the attention of the people around him. Neil had gotten used to it, which is why he didn't take a second look at Jean's cheek when he met him a few moments earlier, but his line of sight passed through it and Neil raised his eyebrows. 

"What's that next to your tattoo?" 

Jean blushed violently. Oh, this was new. 

Jean Moreau was  _ anything but _ shy. 

Neil laughed. "Who left that hickey there, Moreau?"

The hickey was closer to the ear than the tattoo, but it still left that region of Jean's normally pale face very prominent. 

Jean crossed his arms and looked at anything  _ except  _ Neil, who was laughing louder by the second. 

"What is so funny?" asked a voice behind Neil and he jumped, startled, which earned Jean a laugh. Neil kicked him in the shin. 

"Andrew, you can't reach people like that," said Neil, after dodging Jean's retaliation for the kick. 

Andrew raised an eyebrow as he placed the picture he had under his arm on the frame next to Jean's things. To Neil's unhappiness, it was inside a protective cover that prevented him from seeing the drawing. 

"Still waiting to know the reason for the laughs." 

"Jean has a hickey on  _ his cheek." _

Andrew's eyes found the purple mark and he raised a blond eyebrow. 

"I'm sure Kevin left a few more, considering that high collar"

Jean blushed  _ even more. _

"How do you know that?" 

Jean asked at the same time that Neil asked: 

" _ Kevin _ ?"

Andrew shrugged. 

"I live next door to Kevin's house, you know that right?" he asked Jean, who seemed to have lost his ability to speak. "I saw you getting there when I left for Neil's house last night."

Neil looked at Jean and pointed a finger at him. 

"I feel betrayed." 

"Stop the drama, Hartford," Jean slapped Neil on the back of the head, who kicked him again. “By the way, did you sleep at Neil's house yesterday? Why didn't you arrive together then? ”

"Because I would have to carry the painting from home to there and he would have tried to look at it while I slept."

Neil rolled his eyes. 

"He woke up when I got up to run  _ willingly _ just to have time to go home and get the painting" Neil pouted and Andrew rolled his eyes. "He could have avoided that if he had just shown me."

"An artist never shows his art before the exhibition."

Neil snorted. Jean laughed at his face. 

Five minutes before the first class signal, Kevin Day came running across the lawn to where they were, dodging a few people on the way. 

"What is it, Day?" asked Neil, one eyebrow raised. 

"I missed the hour, don't you see?" Kevin spat, as he struggled to breathe. 

"You never miss an hour," Andrew hummed. "I wonder what kept you up late yesterday?" 

Kevin glared at him as Jean blushed. 

Neil was starting to get worried about him. 

Kevin was also wearing a turtleneck shirt, despite the heat, that day and the realization of that fact made Andrew and Neil exchange a mocking look at both of them. 

Neil jumped up and got his things. 

"I think we better go to class before Jean dies from lack of blood circulation," said Neil and ran into the building when Jean tried to hit him with the notebook. Neil laughed and blew air kisses at the three of them and went on to his first lesson of the day, Math, trying not to be anxious while waiting for his English class. 

* 

When the English class finally arrived, Neil found Andrew waiting for him outside the classroom. 

"Aren't you really going to let me see the drawing first?" 

Andrew smirked and pulled away from the wall and entered the room. Neil frowned at him, but Andrew ignored him in favor of sitting down and placing the screen flat against the wall next to his chair. 

Neil sat behind Andrew's chair. "What is the point of being friends with an artist if they don't show me firsthand?"

"Stop being anxious, bunny."

Neil hesitated for a moment. Andrew hadn't called Neil a rabbit in a while. If Andrew noticed his hesitation, he didn't show it, because he kept talking. 

"Also, you didn't show me the text you did, so we're even." 

"I hate you." Neil leaned back in his chair and spoke against Andrew's ear and he noticed that the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. _Hm, interesting._

He sat back in the chair when the professor entered, looking in his bag for his textbook and placing it on the arm of the chair. 

Neil started pulling the skin on his lip while the teacher started the class and tapping his foot compulsively on the floor when he started calling students, in an order that he created on his head, to go to the front of the room and present his work. Neil was generally not insecure with his texts, nor was he ashamed to show them, but this time... 

He felt as if his heart was going to stop. 

Andrew, apparently uncomfortable with his stamping, turned around in his chair and put a hand on Neil's knee, steadying him in place. He gave Neil a clear look to  _ stop it _ and settled himself in the chair. 

Neil was sounding. 

And then...

"Hartford, your turn," said his teacher, and Neil took a deep breath before picking up his notebook and getting up from the chair as he walked to the front of the room. 

He took a deep breath. "Tell me, Hartford, what did you write about?"

Neil pursed his lips. "It's about a feeling."

His teacher moved in the chair. 

"As well?"

"Ah... I didn't know  _ what  _ I loved and the only thing I could think about was that feeling."

His teacher looked at him with a small smile and Neil wanted to get into a hole. 

"Okay, let me hear what you wrote."

Neil took a deep breath and started to recite. 

_ When I am sad, the Sun comes and takes me to run _ _   
_ _ When I am nervous, the Sun comes and makes me disappear _

_ When the world seems to collapse, the Sun comes and holds me,  _

_ usually by the neck, as if I were suspended,  _

_ but it is enough to balance me.  _

_ When I'm happy, the sun shines happily with me.  _

_ When the world looks gray, the sun says I'm being stupid,  _

_ so I laugh and the world looks colorful again, just like that. _

_ The sun, at first glance, seems distant, hot, capable of burning  _

_ those who get too close, but not to me. _

_ Never for me.  _

_ The sun is the force that keeps me spinning.  _

_ It's the rope that pulls me, just so I can build strength.  _

_ I don't know what I love, I don't know if I would recognize the feeling, but I know _

_ that something in me smiles when the sun comes up.  _

_ When the sun seems to decrease its heat just to welcome me.  _

_ Something in me smiles when the Sun is just that. _

_ The sun.  _

Neil did not look up from his notebook when he finished and the only sound made in the room was the hand of the clock, he did not know if it was good or  _ bad,  _ until his teacher sighed audibly.

"I must say that I am impressed," said his teacher. "This sun must be very important to you."

Neil laughed awkwardly and closed the notebook and went back to his chair, without risking looking at anyone in the process. Andrew didn't comment, which only made Neil feel more nervous. He always commented on something, even if it was to mock (ever seriously).

He put his arms crossed on the chair and leaned his head on them. He only got his head up when Dobson was called and Andrew got up, taking with him the painting Neil wanted to see so much. Andrew took the cover off the painting and held it in front of the body so the room could see.

Neil held his breath when he saw what he had painted. 

"And should that be...?" asked the teacher, a little unsure. Of course, he didn't understand the painting. Neil suspected that nobody but him would understand. 

"A painting about something I love," said Andrew, as if it were obvious. 

"A scar?" 

Andrew shrugged at the professor and put the painting down. 

He pushed the glasses higher on his nose. "Don't judge another's love." 

Neil wanted to laugh, because of  _ course _ he would say that. 

The painting was someone's back, where a huge hot iron scar could be easily identified at shoulder height and there were some smaller ones, out of focus, as if to highlight that particular one. 

Neil vividly remembered the day he showed Andrew that scar and told him how his father had done that to him, Neil didn't remember why, but two weeks before Stuart finally got tired and claimed custody of his nephew for himself.

That scar had been the greatest proof of the mistreatment that little Nathaniel Wesninski suffered and Andrew had told him that he should look at it like a victory flag. 

And Andrew loved that scar, it seemed. 

Andrew hasn't said anything to him yet and Neil started pulling the skin from his lips until class was finally over. There was a faint taste of blood in his mouth, but he wasn't worried about it as he left the room. 

He didn't have time to take two steps out of the room before a hand grabbed his wrist and started dragging him across the sea of teenagers changing classes. He would have been scared, but Andrew's touch on his wrist was so familiar that he didn't even consider being someone else and reacting, Neil just let himself be guided. 

Andrew took him outside the school, up to a padlocked staircase, but Andrew just lifted the chain and told Neil to go under. Then the two went up to the school roof. 

They sit on the edge, Andrew with his legs outside the building and Neil with his legs crossed on the floor. 

"So ..." Neil started but was interrupted by Andrew's hand on his mouth. He hadn't even seen him move, but somehow Andrew was now sitting completely on the roof, in front of Neil, with his butt resting on his ankles. 

"Just answer yes or no," Andrew said and Neil nodded. "That text... Was it about me?" 

Andrew took his hand from Neil's mouth and didn't look away when Neil replied. 

"Yes."

They looked at each other for what seemed like days before Andrew held Neil's face in both hands. 

"Say I got it wrong." 

Neil drew his eyebrows together slightly. 

"I can't answer that without knowing what you understood." 

Andrew put his forehead against Neil's. 

"Say you're not in love with me." 

Neil wanted to laugh. 

"I can't say that."

Andrew closed his eyes and Neil wanted to touch their closed lids, count the freckles now much more visible by sunlight and proximity. Neil raised his hands at the same time as he lifted his head slightly away from Andrew's, making him open his eyes, and pulled out his beige, round-rimmed glasses, carefully placing them on the floor beside them. 

"Why do you love my scar?" 

"I do not love."

"But..."

"What I love is what it represents: your freedom." 

Andrew ran his thumb over Neil's cheek and put his foreheads together again. Whether it was because he liked being like this or because he couldn't face Neil, he didn't care, as long as they stayed that way. 

"I hate that your father did this, but that scar has allowed your uncle to become your guardian." 

Their noses were touching and Neil's heart was beating very hard and very fast in his chest. 

Neil breathed with his mouth inches from Andrew's. "Thank you."

"Why?"

"For caring about me."

"You are so stupid," said Andrew and kissed him. 

Neil had never kissed before and he knew Andrew didn't either, and the fact that they were both there, having their first kisses together, made Neil's heart skip a beat. In reality, Neil never thought of kissing anyone, not like Kevin seems to enjoy doing, but kissing Andrew seemed so  _ certain _ that he cursed himself for not doing it before. 

Neil had left his hands in his lap after he took off Andrew's glasses for he didn't want to touch Andrew without him authorizing, even if he never seemed to care about Neil's touch. But that was different, so Neil crossed his fingers on his lap and let Andrew kiss him, and kissed him back. 

They missed the rest of the classes until lunchtime arrived and they went to the cafeteria hand in hand. 

Kevin and Jean were sitting at a table near the cafeteria window, with Jean almost sitting on Kevin's lap, saying something in a low voice and very close to his face. Neil raised an eyebrow as they approached. 

Kevin saw them first. “Where were you guys? You missed your physical education class! If the teacher had taken us to the court… ”

“Kev,  _ ma lune _ , they are holding hands,” Jean said with a smile. Kevin looked at his joined hands for exactly three seconds (Neil counted) before he understood and smirked. 

"Did you idiots finally get resolved?" 

Neil knitted his eyebrows together. 

"Like you…?"

"Now, Nathaniel, it was written on your foreheads that you liked each other, but were stupid enough not to notice."

Neil blushed at Jean's speech and Andrew brought him closer to his body, which did not go unnoticed by the other two, who smiled. 

"Anyway," began Neil, wanting to draw attention from his and Andrew's conversation. "What were you two talking about before we arrived?"

Neil looked at Andrew as he spoke and the blonde walked away, going to get their lunch. 

"Jeremy Knox," said the two in unison. 

"The captain of the college Exy team?" The two nodded. "Isn't he too old for you?" 

"He's only two years older than us," replied Jean. "I'm thinking of inviting him to my birthday party." 

Kevin's face lit up. 

"Yes! Do it."

Neil thought he was going to die before he understood Jean and Kevin. 

Andrew returned minutes later with two trays of food, handing one to Neil and sitting beside him at the table. They ate in comfortable silence. 

*

The next day, Betsy Dobson's car stopped in front of the Hartford home. Neil was sitting on the counter by the kitchen window, eating toast that Stuart had made. From there, he saw when Andrew and his mother got out of the car and headed for the door of the house through the stone path in the front yard. 

Neil's uncle went out to greet them while Neil finished eating, returning with them when Neil was washing the dirty dishes. He looked over his shoulder and smiled when his gaze met Andrew's, who walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. 

Neil hid his red cheeks by turning his face back to the running water, washing the soap off the dishes. 

"So," began Betsy, with a small smile, when Neil turned to face the three people in the kitchen, leaning his butt against the edge of the sink and drying his hands. "Did you and Andrew finally realize what you felt?" 

"Mom," said Andrew, slightly indignant and ashamed. Neil found the red in his cheeks adorable. 

"What, dear? It's just an innocent question.”

"It is never just an innocent question when you use that tone."

Betsy snorted, but it was obvious the affection she was feeling at the time. 

"Still waiting for my answer." 

Neil bit the corner of his lip and looked at Andrew with a question in his eyes. Andrew just walked over to him and took Neil's hand in his. 

Betsy grinned and Stuart looked satisfied. 

"I was considering locking you up in a room sometimes," said Stuart, and Neil threw the dishtowel at him. 

Then Neil ran to his room and grabbed his travel bag, cell phone, and textbook and went back to the first floor in time to hear Stuart ask Betsy when they were going to be back. 

"Sunday at noon," she replied. "I don't want them to miss more classes, today is enough." 

Neil put the bag's strap on his shoulder and stopped beside his uncle. 

"We can go," he said and gave Stuart a quick hug, who ruffled his hair. 

Andrew was already outside, his body resting on the hood of the car, but he walked away and took Neil's bag and tossed it into the trunk. 

They could take a plane to South Carolina, but Andrew didn't like airplanes because of his fear of heights, so Betsy would drive there. Neil sat in the back seat when Andrew came around the car and opened the trunk, and fastened his belt. Surprisingly, Andrew entered the bank next to him. 

Neil  _ knew _ that Betsy was smiling in the front seat. 

At one point, Andrew placed his palm on the bench between them and Neil placed his hand over his, squeezing his fingers when their eyes met and Neil smiled. 

"Are you nervous?" asked Neil in German. Neil was the one who taught Andrew German so that they could have some privacy when they were in public, and as much as Neil liked Andrew's mother and the blond has probably already talked to her about the trip, he didn't know what Andrew was feeling. 

"I would not use nervous to define it," Andrew replied in the same language. "Just... I don't know what to expect."

"Do you want to talk to someone without a doctorate in psychology?" 

Andrew blew out his nose in a weak laugh and let go of Neil's hand and he instantly missed the softness of Andrew's hand, but it didn't last long. Andrew took off his belt and moved to the middle seat, putting his arm around Neil, who put his head to rest between Andrew's shoulder and the car seat. 

“I don't need to talk about this, Neil. Unlike you, when I say it's okay, it _ 's okay.” _

Neil snorted. 

"You didn't say you were fine, you admitted you were nervous." 

“It's normal to be nervous, so it _ 's okay,  _ Neil.”

Neil nuzzled by Andrew's neck and took a deep breath, feeling Andrew’s scent and loving it. 

"Uhum" Neil hummed against his neck, feeling when goosebumps ran through Andrew's entire body and placed a kiss there. 

"Do you want me to leave?"

Neil sat upright on the bench when Betsy's voice sounded amused in the front seat. He didn't look, but he knew Andrew must be as red as a pepper. Neil was too. 

"Mom," Andrew said, embarrassed. 

Betsy laughed as she maneuvered the car. Looking out the window, Neil noticed that they were in a parking lot. 

"I don't know about you, boys, but I'm hungry," she said opening the door and getting out of the car. 

Neil and Andrew did not take long to follow her example and then Neil noticed that they were in a parking lot of a diner. 

Inside, already seated and having made their orders, Betsy decided it was time for  _ the talk _ . 

"So, we have to talk about it," she pointed a finger at Andrew and back at Neil. "Despite knowing that you are both responsible teenagers, we need to remember a few things." 

"Mom," Andrew spoke in a slightly desperate tone and Neil huddled in his chair, uncomfortable. 

"Andrew, I am your mother and even though I already gave you the sex talk, you are still a teenager full of..."

"Mom!" 

“... hormones,“ She concluded as if she dared Andrew to try to stop her again. "You sleep at Neil's house once a week, and I assume this will increase. I have to do my part as a mother!" 

"We started this, like, a day ago." 

"Your dad and I just needed a few hours." 

Neil made a strange noise as he tried to hold back his laughter when Andrew frowned. 

"I really didn't need to know that." 

Betsy waved a hand, dismissing the subject. Well, at least that part of the subject. 

“Just remember that condoms don't just prevent pregnancy, despite knowing that it won't be a problem with you. If you need to, I can give it to you myself ... ”

Neil hit his head on the table at the same time Andrew almost screamed again, “ Mom! ”

Fortunately, the food arrived after that and they ate in silence. Andrew did not allow his mother to speak again after that, running to the car as soon as she paid for their food. 

In the car, they shared a phone and Neil slept with his head on Andrew's shoulder, while Andrew’s was resting on top of Neil's head. 

They woke up when Betsy was parking the car in front of Andrew's brother and cousin's house. She must have realized that Andrew needed time, so she got out of the car. Neil was about to do the same thing when Andrew held his hand tighter. 

"Everything okay?" Neil asked, in a calm voice. 

"Will you be there with me?" was Andrew's reply. 

"Always."

Andrew pulled Neil's face in a kiss.

"So I have nothing to be afraid of." 


End file.
